It's Fun to stay at the Y
by East Coast Ryder
Summary: The Animorphs have survived many battles, but can they survive YMCA's Camp Streefland? COMPLETE.
1. Chapter One: Jake

NOTE: the YMCA funds Camp Streefland. As in, mesa doesn't own it! That and the Animorphs, Or Orchard Lake Elementary. I just had school there. Kind-of AU. Tons of OC, if that means original character, which I think it does...  
  
Chapter 1: Get a life, get nine of them  
  
My name is Jake.  
  
And life sucks. I am not going to tell you my last name, or where I live. Because I'm fighting. Fighting the Yeerks.  
  
They are a parasitic species that take over the minds of species. They are the perfect impersonators because they can read your thoughts, memories, and feelings. My friends and I learned about them from a doomed Andalite, Elfangor-Sirinul-Shamtul. He gave us the power to morph, to change into anything with DNA. So I had awakened after a night of scary dreams about a battle the day before.  
  
And, to top that all off, my Biology class is going to a camp in southern Minnesota. A four-hour plane trip, and we're staying at a hotel. FOR THREE FRICKIN' DAYS!! We'll get back a few days before Thanksgiving Break.  
  
We're on the plane now, and are preparing to land. I don't know why, but I get a bad feeling about this...  
  
I stepped out of the plane into the airport. We now had a 20-minute bus ride to Orchard Lake Elementary, and a half-mile walk to Camp Streefland back toward where we had come from, which I thought was pointless.  
  
"Boring, huh?" Rachel asked once we were on the bus. It wasn't a school bus; it was one of those shuttle-things.  
  
"Yep." Looking out the window showed lots of snow on the ground, but it wasn't falling.  
  
"Scared?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"First time?"  
  
"No, I've been scared lots of times, you know that."  
  
"Bad pun. I mean, have you been on a high rope course?"  
  
"Nope." I stared over to Marco and his buddies. They were quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I found it quite annoying.  
  
"... Yeah, if I fall off the ropes course, I'll stand up and say, ' 'tis but a scratch!'" Marco laughed.  
  
"And during the nature hike, I'll play my coconuts!" one of his buddies proclaimed. He reached into his backpack, found two coconut halves, and banged them together.  
  
"Oh yeah, and I'll sing, 'Brave Sir Marco, he looked about, and gallantly he chickened out!'" Rachel retorted.  
  
"Get a life!" Marco said. As an afterthought he muttered, "Get nine of them."  
  
Rachel stuck out her tongue, and said, "Yeah right, chicken-boy."  
  
"He should try that morph, by the way," Rachel told me.  
  
"Yeah, he'd make a good chicken," I agreed.  
  
The bus pulled into Orchard Lake, and the 6th graders walked out.  
  
"Hey, you!" An average-height, semi-dumpy girl with short, dirty blond hair, (yes, Marco resisted the urge to make a joke about that,) and eyes that were similar to Tobias's human eyes (as if she was staring at something no one else could see,) yelled. "Yeah, you!"  
  
Rachel, Marco, and I walked toward her and several other people.  
  
The girl pointed to one of her friends, then others. "Shelly, Becca, 'Livi, and Sarah. I'm April." From what I could tell this girl had an attitude. "Wanna hang?"  
  
Shelly was similar to Rachel in many ways, tall, long blond hair, blue eyes that looked like they had a gleam for battle in them, and, apparently, a good fashion sense as Rachel looked at her like a sister.  
  
Becca was a short African-American girl with long, black hair and a red half-zip pullover.  
  
'Livi had stringy, poofy, yellow hair pulled into a bushy ponytail behind a large head.  
  
Sarah looked like the authoritative type with shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, and an intelligent look.  
  
Marco muttered something under his breath.  
  
I heard that, Marco, a voice said.  
  
I jerked an eye up. Tobias. And from the look of it, Ax too.  
  
"Why not?" I said. "Have you been to Streefland before?"  
  
"Once. Earlier this year. Tip: on the rope course, don't look down," April said.  
  
"If you're scared o' heights, wimp!" A kid said.  
  
"Stuff it, Grant."  
  
Yep. Attitude.  
  
"We'll see who kicks whose butt on the course, Scar!" Shelly said.  
  
"I like that girl," Rachel joined her and they talked.  
  
"... So they called him a super callused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis!" A short blond-haired boy with glasses finished, talking to a group of 6th graders.  
  
"I LOVE that pun!!!" Marco walked toward the shortie and they began to talk before exchanging a few puns.  
  
"Guys! You're not supposed to say that word in school..." Sarah ran off towards some boys swearing.  
  
"Xander! Wanna pretzel?" Livi walked off.  
  
"Hey! Those are my pretzels!!! Livi!!!" Sarah screamed, doing a U-turn.  
  
"April, you beat Kirby yet?" Becca asked.  
  
"Nope, I'm still stuck on the Freezie boss."  
  
Finally, something I can talk about.  
  
"Jeez, he's easy! You suck up the ice cubes and chuck 'em back. Easy as Pie," I explained.  
  
"That gives new meaning to the word 'game freak.' Hey, Bec, 'ya know Freak Apple's fan fic I told you about..."  
  
FREAK APPLE!?!?! (A/N: In Freak Apple's fics, she has the Animorphs know she's writing them.)  
  
Who were these kids? 


	2. Chapter Two: April

Chapter 2- Red-tailed dreams  
  
April-  
  
Becca was talking with John, this guy who was kind of cute, but he had stopped hanging out with us very often. He had gotten in with the "in" crowd, and didn't need to be seen with "the dorks," namely us. So I was left alone with Jake.  
  
Some alarm bell in my head was ringing. Something wasn't right, as if I was missing something... And when I'm tense and confused, I turn to music. So I began humming the Anthem. I had just gotten to the "chorus" when I heard:  
  
"We're heading out!" A teacher said.  
  
"Who's that?" I asked Jake in a whisper.  
  
"Oh, that's Mrs. Larson. She's evil."  
  
"Really? We have an evil Mrs. Larson too! She teaches the Gifted and talented group. That's me, Shelly, Sarah, Dale; that kid Marco's messin' with, and Carter." As an afterthought I said, "You know, you remind me of someone. I can't put my finger on it, though." This guy gave me a weird vibe, like I knew him, somehow...  
  
He looked ahead. "I'm gonna check out what Marco's doing. Guess I'll see you around," He left.  
  
"Man—"  
  
"Tseer!"  
  
I looked up. "Sarah, what's that?" I asked, walking toward her.  
  
"A red-tailed hawk. We once had one living in our backyard. They're a fairly common species."  
  
"Never seen one. 'Ya think it could be Tobias?"  
  
"Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt."  
  
"Huh." I looked at it, soaring in the sky. I wish I had wings... 


	3. Chapter Three: Jake

Chapter 3 – Why is the Python Monty?  
  
Jake-  
  
I walked over to Rachel. Shelly had left to see April. Marco saw us converging, and walked toward us.  
  
"Tobias, come on down." We walked to the back of the stampede of kids. "You too, Ax."  
  
They flew down. Tobias morphed, and Ax demorphed and remorphed human. "Prince Jake, are you sure we should be participating in this human activity? Tee. Iv-i-tee?"  
  
"C'mon, Ax! It'll give you practice being a human."  
  
"Like school? Ool. Sc. School."  
  
Marco rolled his eyes, "You silly English ka nig it!!"  
  
"Cut the Monty Python, Marco," Rachel pleaded.  
  
"What is this Monty Python? Why is the Python Monty? Tee. On-tee."  
  
"Ax..."  
  
After a bit of walking, we arrived at Camp Streefland. Reading the sign, I saw that it was a day camp. Councilors were herding the mass of around 100 kids into an amphitheater-like pit.  
  
We walked into the amphitheater and sat down.  
  
"Hey, Orchard Lake!" One of the councilors, who had an Australian accent screamed.  
  
"Hey Brian!" The 6th graders screamed.  
  
"I understand that we have some people from joining us today?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Well welcome! Okay, I assume you've been assigned into groups, right?"  
  
"Yep," one of the teachers, Mrs. Freebush, replied.  
  
"Well, Group A, where are you?" A bunch of kids raised their hands, both in our school, and in theirs. "You guys go with me to the Canoes!"  
  
"Woohoo!!"  
  
"Group B!" I raised my hand with April and 'Livi, and others. "You do archery with Mindy!!!"  
  
"Yay," we said totally unenthusiastically.  
  
"Group C!" Sarah, Shelly, Marco, and others raised their hands, "Get ready... FOR THE HIGH ROPES COURSE with John!!!!"  
  
They screamed. Loudly.  
  
"Group D, you are doing the Black Hole with Ben!!!!"  
  
"Yeah!!!"  
  
"Go to your groups and have FUN!!!"  
  
Everyone started moving.  
  
"So, who's Mindy?

%%%%%%%%%%

OK... This is my review answer section... Yeah...

Wraithlord42: I reuploaded cause I accidentally deleted it, thinking it was a different fic, and about Freak Apple... Review, huh? Been there, done that. (points to Freak Apple's Reviews) If that sounded snotty, I'm sorry.

Twister329: Glad that you like this story. This is my favorite of all my fics that I've posted.


	4. Chapter Four: Rachel and Tobias

Chapter 4- Jerks and Nuckin' Futs  
  
Rachel  
  
I walked with my group up a hill. We saw a volleyball court, a water spigot, a barn, and a big cage. In that cage were two goats.   
  
"That's Goaty and Tiny Tim," Ben explained.  
  
I went to pet the goat. "Hey, Goaty."  
  
"That's Tiny Tim, nutcase!"  
  
Becca whispered, "That's Karlee. She's a nuckin' fut."  
  
As I petted the goat, I saw Goaty. She had horns.  
  
The lightbulb came on. I walked over and petted Goaty.  
  
**Tobias-**  
  
I snuck toward group A. No one would recognize me here.  
  
Ax was right behind me.  
  
"Shouldn't we be with Prin- Jake? Ake. Jay-K?"  
  
"Nope. Low profile, remember?"  
  
"Yes, Tobias. Ias. As."  
  
"Quit playing with sounds, Ax. People are looking at you."  
  
I walked with Brian the Australian to the canoes.  
  
"Okay, what's our group called?" he asked.  
  
I could literally hear the crickets chirping in the background until Dale said, "The Awesome Elves."  
  
No one said anything.  
  
"Works for me," Dale shrugged.  
  
"Why not?" Brian amended. "Okay, get into groups of three or four and grab life jackets."  
  
"You and me, Ax," I instructed.   
  
"Hey, you guys!" a 6th grade girl said. "Wanna be with us?"  
  
"Why not? C'mon, A— Phillip."  
  
"But Tobias—"  
  
"Phillip!"  
  
"Fine." In a whisper, as an afterthought, he said, "Ine."


	5. Chapter Five: Rachel

**A/N: Stupid QuickEdit... won't let me do thought-speech anymore... I've resorted to using {} until I can use the others**.

Chapter 5 –Getting Goaty

I acquired Goaty and sat down with the rest of the group. There were about 24 or 25 kids in the group. Some I knew, some I didn't.

Okay, most I didn't.

"Okay! I'm Ben, and we're doing a few activities before the Black Hole. The first one we're going to do is called Class Juggling. We're going to get into two groups." The adults separated us into two smaller groups. "Okay, now go around the circle and say your name."

"Tressa."

"Jean."

"Alexander."

"Simon."

"Natalie."

"Stephanie."

"Karlee."

"Grace."

"Rachel."

"Ryann."

"Nick."

"Chris."

"Now, what you do is take this ball," Ben handed us a ball, "and pass it to anyone in the circle and say their name."

That went on for a while, doing games, games, and, oh yeah, games. Everyone's favorite was the name train!

It went like this: Ben walked up to Ryann and said, "What, what, what's your name?"

She replied, giggling, "Ryann."

"Hi Ryann! Ryann, Ryann, Ryann, Ryann! Jump on the name train! Toot, toot!" She came up behind him, and they turned around. She went up to someone and did the same thing. It continued for a while, and then the long-awaited time came. The black hole. It was basically a long tube slide. You ride down it on sleds.

But first, we had bathroom breaks and I saw my chance. I went into the bathroom. Since no one else was there, I focused, and morphed Goaty.

I had been a grizzly. I had been an elephant. But this was new. The goat was almost docile. But, it had horns, and would be less conspicuous than any other morph, so, I ran out to find Karlee.

I ran towards the group that had assembled and butted Karlee in the butt into a puddle that had formed. Her eyes darted to the goat pen, to me, and back again.

She had seen the real Goaty. And me.

"Fool of an Andalite!" She muttered to me. "Do you know what my host is saying to you right now?"

{I wouldn't know. How many of your classmates are your people? Will you have to infest them to get to me? I have many stronger morphs of these human animals, but this would be covered up easily. How many, Yeerk?}

"20. Including myself. A few remain."

"Karlee, are you okay?" Ben ran over to check on her.

"Andalite," She muttered.

"Come here, Goaty!" He asked. "C'mon!" I walked away.

He turned to Mrs. Freebush and said, "Take them down to the black hole, I'll be there in a second."

I darted into the bathroom, did a quick demorph, and remorphed to, you guessed it, grizzly.

"HROOOOARR!" I slammed into the door as Ben and Karlee ran in and pulled out Dracon beams.

"What do we do, sub-Visser?" Ben asked Karlee.

"We do nothing. The Visser will take care of the Andalite," she replied. She flipped a switch on her Dracon, probably a communication device or walkie-talkie, and said, "Visser, we have found an Andalite!"

**&&&&&&&&&**

Wraithlord42: I used to anonymously review as 'someone.' I was a loser back then. (still am, actually)

Aldrea: You're in! Glad you like it.


	6. Chapter Six: Tobias

Chapter 6: Visser Seven

Tobias-

I walked into the canoe with Ax, Kate, and Emily. We were heading out next.

"Better not let Phillip paddle. He is really bad at it," I suggested.

"Tobias, are you suggesting-"

"Yeah, Phillip, I am."

All of a sudden, I heard something come from Brian's pocket. A muffled sound that sounded like, 'Hisser, tea round an handy light!" There was a lump in the pocket that looked familiar...

Ax's eyes widened.

{Tobias!} He said in private thought-speak, {That said, 'Visser, we have found an Andalite! It's some sort of communication device that controllers have on their Dracon weapons.}

{Holy crap. We're surrounded by controllers!}

{Not good.}

{Definitely not good. Call Jake, warn him!} I instructed.

{And Rachel? Or Marco?}

{Yeah, Rachel too. By the way, will you be able to do a quick demorph and remorph?}

{You seem to be implying that we will attack.}

{Yeah, probably. But we need to wait until we're on Paintball Island.}

{Why?}

{You know why! Look, if we're going to let the secret out, not around a bunch of known controllers!}

"So you want us to paddle?" Emily asked.

"If you want me to, I'll do it," I answered.

"Oh, we'll do it."

Ax nodded, a small motion, as to not attract attention. {Okay. Jake and Rachel. Rachel, Jake! They are on to us!}

{Well, duh! I've got two on me and they've called in a Visser!} Rachel replied.

{Rachel! Are you in MORPH!?!?} I asked.

{Uh... yeah?}

{As what, may I ask?}

{Grizzly?}

{WHAT!!}

{Look, this girl got on my nerves so I morphed the councilor's pet goat and I was discovered to be an "Andalite," so I ran into the bathroom and demorphed and remorphed to grizzly! Got it?}

{Yes, ma'am.}

{Good. Now, where's Marco again?}

{Marco's on the high rope course, Jake's in Archery, and we're on the canoes.}

{Did someone mention me?}

{Marco! Why are you in MORPH?!?!}

{I just happened to overhear your conversation, not to mention I heard about 4 Yeerk 'beepers' go off and I slipped away. I see you! Hey, how'd you pick up the chicks?}

{Marco!}

{Marco!}

{Marco!}

{Jeez.}

{Look, not the time!} Jake said, joining in. {Do you guys think you can get to Rachel? If you can, do battle morphs. Tobias, go Cheetah. It will help cover the fact that we're human. Marco? Go cheetah, too. We want to give the impression we are a different group than back home.}

{So what will you be, Fearless Leader?}

{Polar bear.}

{Finally, now I see you!} Cassie!

{Cassie?} five voices rang out.

{What, you get to go to Camp Streefland and I don't because I'm in a different Biology class? Please. I skipped school and snuck on the plane as a fly. No one noticed an extra person leaving.}

{That sounds like someone I know,} Marco said, obviously indicating Rachel.

{Marco? I'm shish-kebobing you when you get here!} Rachel replied sweetly.

{Another direct hit with the Chakram of your wit, mighty Xena!}

{Marco, that was a Haiku,} Cassie noted.

{Cool! Uh, what's a Haiku?}

{Later. Let's go get to Rachel!}


	7. Chapter Seven: Marco

Chapter 7 –Let's get ready to rumble!

Marco-

I was the first one at the meeting site. I was already morphed and ready to go.

Reverse that.

I was the last one there. Everyone else was already morphed.

I hate this.

Wait a moment! Jake was demorphing. And remorphing Hork-Bajir.

{Smart. Too hot for you, 'Bajir boy?} I asked.

{Ha, ha, ha.}

I demorphed quickly. "Wait, shouldn't we have someone in the sky? You know, just in case the Vissers come?"

{Okay, you rem-}

{Wait, he'll just spy on girls,} Tobias noted.

"Touché, monsieur pussycat," I said. 

Wait a minute! Rachel screamed to nowhere. {Marco fails French. He doesn't even go, he skips!}

"I learned it from Tom and Jerry!"

{Still watching reruns?}

"Why not?"

{Do you want to tell him?} Rachel asked.

{Waaaay too much time with the Ax-man,} Tobias said.

{Okay, Tobias, demorph, you're in the air. Marco, cheetah. Ax, you're backup. Cassie, Marco, you're with me,} Jake said.

Everyone moved at once. I finished morphing as Tobias finished demorphing.

{Let's go!}

I ran.

And halted in front of the girl's room.

{The forbidden zone,} I said. {We can't go in there!}

BOOM! One of the walls was destroyed by Rachel's arm.

And so it begins...

**Korean Pearl: Okay, I'm going to answer all of these in one shot. Technically, they could be from our world, but I'll get into that later. So you can't laugh? That stinks.**

**Waffles4eva: Sure, you're in! Coca-Cola also originally was a headache cure (it works, trust me...) **


	8. Chapter Eight: Ax

**FFN is EVIL!!!!!!!!!! I've resorted to using ( ).**

Chapter 8- the other Animorphs

Ax-

I ran towards the human councilor, tail in striking position, prepared to perform the _torf_.

(Wait! I just realized something! Why would the Yeerks position their people in Camp Streefland? It makes no sense!) Cassie noted.

(Yeerk! Why are you here?) I said forcefully.

My human friends say it is a good thing that it is almost impossible to tell where thought-speak is coming from. It hides who is speaking, so it seems that I, an Andalite _aristh_, am not talking as if I was the leader.

To our surprise, it was the young female human who spoke. "As a sub-Visser of the Yeerk Empire, I will not reveal our plan to an Andalite!"

(Sub-Visser?) Marco asked.

"Ah, the young Andalite scum hasn't learned of his enemy yet?" the Sub-Visser taunted, turning towards me. She looked at Rachel, who was attacking the councilor. "You haven't taught the _aristh_ about your enemy's ranks? What a sad excuse for an Andalite Prince!"

A figure burst out of a bush. It was a human girl, the one we had befriended at the beginning of the trip.

"Oh, god," April said. And she fainted.

"Get her! She has seen the Andalites!" The sub-Visser yelled. Ben ran over to her. Marco jumped in front of April.

He picked up April by her shirt with his mouth and ran off.

"Sub-Visser Seven. We meet again."

From out of the bushes came a human male, a bald eagle, a lioness, a rhino, an elephant, and...

An Andalite?

"John? And your band of... Animorphs, wasn't it Jeff?"

(You got that right, sub-Visser!) the Rhino, had it had eyebrows, lifted one, squinting the other.

"Stephanie..."

The Elephant saluted with her trunk.

"Jerry," the sub-Visser said coolly, "my host's ex-boyfriend.

"And yes, of course we have an Andalite. Elfangor-Sirinul-Shamtul. Visser Three was wrong that he destroyed you, huh?"

Elfangor?

(Elfangor!)

Elfangor's stalk eye swiveled toward me. (Aximili?)

(Talk later, Ax,) Marco said, shaking off the shock of meeting Elfangor again.

The sub-Visser continued. "Shelly, how good is it to see you again."

(Look, jerk-off, fight now, talk later,) the lioness attacked.

"Shelly, wait! Now," John ordered. The lioness turned.

(Who the hey are you with, Aximili?) Elfangor asked privately.

(Now is not the time.)

Now the question was, were these new Animorphs friends...

...or foes?

REVIEWS! LOTS OF THEM!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

HealerAriel: Heh.

Cherryangel6464: Hi, Bec. yeah, I like da goat in da butt part myself.

Lady of romantic dreams: Sarah is in the next one. (yeah, I'm that far ahead. THis is my favorite fic.)

THANK YOU REVIEWERS! YOU ROCK!


	9. Chapter Nine: Cassie

Chapter 9- Complicated.

Cassie-

"Who the hell are you?" John asked Jake.

(Not the time, John... let's say you know us more than you think...)

(Are we going to tell them about us?) I asked Jake privately.

(Most likely. But we have other issues now,) Jake answered. Out loud, in a deeper version of his voice, he said, (So, sub-Visser, what are you going to do now?)

Of course, with our luck, the Visser happened to walk in at that particular moment and...

TSEWW! A Dracon beam flashed, and down went Jerry, the Bald Eagle.

(Go right ahead, Rach.)

"HWOOOORRR!" Rachel attacked the Visser. And, again, we were in another pickle that the ball players were not going to be able to get out of.

John began his morph, a morph that I had seen before.

A python.

Marco happened to have that same morph. Ax had a similar one, a rattler.

Shelly seemed to be holding off the Yeerks while John morphed. He seemed to have the same ability as I did. He was, as Ax so profoundly put it, an _estreen_. A person with a talent for morphing.

Then...

(Wait! I figured it out! They're using this place as a recruiting center for involuntary infesting! The Black Hole that takes so long for people to go through. The canoeing to a separate island. The nature hiking. The long and complicated process of getting ready to go on the high rope course. It all makes sense.) All the pieces were coming together.

(Yep, that's it,) John said. (We had noticed this on the first go at Streefland and we practically begged to go with the group from your school—)

(Well, about that...) Jake proceeded to tell him our story.

(What? You guys are Animorphs too?) John was appalled. No, he was more than appalled that we had been hidden so long. (Have you guys seen the Eli—)

(Been there, done that,) Rachel answered. (Ellimist come, ask for us to leave, then we say no, then he says bye-bye.)

(Yeah. That deal. The Ellimist was a very annoying being indeed.)

Hork-Bajir started attacking from the trees.

Ax continued, saying several words. (Sub-Visser! We will destroy you!)

(Not the time, Ax. Later. Marco, can you hear me?) Jake called.

(Yeah. April's going to wake up soon, so do you have any plans?)

(Go Hork-Bajir. Explain as little as possible, but get her out of here!)

(Fine. Good luck.)

John, hearing this said, (Another time, Sub-Visser!)

We wandered off into the forest.


	10. Chapter Ten: Shelly

Chapter 10- Little Things

Shelly-

Another group of Animorphs?!?! The idea was crazy! But, there they were, clear as day.

After we demorphed, April came riding in on Marco, the Hork-Bajir.

"I knew it!" She was screaming. "I knew you were the Animorphs!"

"Shh!" John called. "We can't let the controllers hear us."

"What do we do now?" Jeff asked.

Personally, I didn't like Jeff. I thought he was the most annoying person on the face of this planet.

But, I had more useful things to do. Like thinking about Jerry.

Jerry and I were, well, pretty close. You could almost say we were dating.

Almost.

April was speechless. She was practically obsessed with the Animorphs book series. Now, she was meeting them.

"Guess monkeys do fly out of Sarah's butt..."

Honestly, she looked like she had just won the lottery. Her eyes were brightly lit and a small smile crept up her face.

"I can't get caught by the Yeerks now, huh?" she said, still smiling.

"And we can't let you go back to your parents, either. For all we know, they could be Controllers," Jake said, before John could.

"Cool. I was getting bored of Allison and Nikkei anyway."

"I checked her parents out. They weren't Yeerks," I said skeptically.

"They will be, though," Elfangor said, having morphed to human along with Ax. "Your parents might know something that you knew, maybe about the Animorph book series, maybe about Camp Streefland. Your sisters, too."

"Yeah, I know. Wait, I have the whole Animorphs book series, if they get their hands on that..."

"God, this is just getting crazier and crazier..." Jeff and Marco said at the same time. "We need to go steal books? To protect our secret?" They stared at each other.

"A Marco clone?"

"A Jeff clone?"

Rachel and I exchanged glances, seeing how similar the two sets of Animorphs were.

"Anyways," Marco began, "we've got to go on a suicide mission to rescue _books_, of all things, and possibly reveal our secret?"

"Hmmm, basically," Stephanie said.

"Well..." John started, looking at Jake.

"Let's put it to a vote. For or against saving books..." Jake smacked himself on the head. "This is as stupid as the oatmeal incident..." He said.

"Oatmeal?" Jeff asked.

"Long story short: Instant maple and ginger oatmeal makes the Yeerks go insane, and removes their need for Kandrona waves," Marco replied.

"Ah."

"For," Rachel said.

"Against," Marco said.

(I do what Prince Jake says.)

(I do what Prince John says.)

"STOP CALLING ME 'PRINCE'!!!!!!!!" John and Jake said.

"For." Cassie.

"For." Stephanie.

"Against." Jeff.

"For." Jake.

"For." John.

"For," I said.

"Out of 9 votes... 6 for, 2 against... not counting April, Ax, and Al," Jeff tallied.

("Al?") The other Animorphs said in unison.

We replied, ("Elfangor.")

"Oh."

Stephanie asked, "What I'm wondering is why they haven't come after us. I mean, they know where we live."

John turned to Jake. "You see, after the whole begging to go back, especially for me and Stephanie who hated it the first time around, they got suspicious. They caught me morphing. But strangely they didn't come after us. We've always wondered why..."

**oooooh.... okay, ONE REVIEW FOR TWO CHAPPIES? Not that I'm mad I got reviews....**

Cassie: definately did not forget plotline. In fact, I'm done with this story. Just need to post it all. Was finished with this story early summer of '03.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Tobias

Chapter 11- the rescue, (almost...)

Tobias

We flew... with the exception of April (and Nikkei who had been rescued from school), who, in fact, rode on Cassie in horse morph.

"This way," April muttered, as to not have Nikkei hear.

Cassie relayed the message in thought-speak to our flock of robins and a red-tailed hawk. We had acquired them after Cassie had grabbed one in fox morph. Yes; she has a fox morph. Now, anyway...

We turned, flying over April's street. We hoped to get at least Allison to safety, if not Allison and her parents.

Here's the plan: Marco, in gorilla morph, would grab Allison and/or her parents with some clothes who will have been drowned out by Jake in tiger morph, and find a hiding place, probably the one under Streefland that the other Animorphs and their families used. Nikkei would go with them. April would grab clothes for all of them, money, the books, and erase all data of Freak Apple's fanfictions off of all the computers. Then she would return to John, who would lead her to where we were, under Streefland. I would fly cover.

Eventually, we reached her house, taking a long route through what April called "behind the fence," which was very aptly named. A barbed-wire fence was along the backside of her yard, separating us from the house. Cassie jumped over it; it wasn't very tall, and they got off.

April said, "Nikkei, grab some clothes, then come with me."

Nikkei wasn't easily persuaded.

"No, I don't want to. You're not the boss of me..."

(Arggg... I wish I didn't have to do this...) Marco said sarcastically, already remorphed. His cinder-block arm fell on Nikkei's head.

"I want my mommy..." Nikkei said, dazed. Then she fell over, unconscious.

"I'll grab her stuff. You guys go."

April snuck in.

Jake and Marco took their positions.

(Go,) Rachel relayed a message sent by April. Jake charged in.

The others dragged Nikkei into the hiding spot. Rachel, in fly morph, hooked on to me, sitting on their deck.

"AHHHHHHHH—" We heard from the inside.

(Allison's out.) Marco said. (The parents aren't in there.)

(Good,) Jake said. (Let's move out.)

I saw Marco carry Allison out, Jake following. (Hurry, April!)

"Done!" I heard her call.

She ran out, carrying two suitcases and a pillowcase full of books.

One suitcase went to Rachel, who had demorphed. The other went to John in chimpanzee morph. April carried the books.

"_Gafrath_!"

Hork-Bajir!!!!

**A/N: Four chapters left, then the sequel. YAY! People like me! (tears up) I feel so proud!**

Lady Of Romantic Dreams: YAY! another review from you! I like it when people review more than once. I'm updating... I'm updating...

Aldrea: Another review from you too! I'm adding to the suspence....


	12. Chapter Twelve: April and Shelly

A/N: Two Chappies!

Chapter 12- The Morph

April

I wasn't too shocked about the Hork-Bajir. I mean, I didn't faint or anything, but what I _was_ shocked about was that I could **understand** them.

(Hork-Bajir! Get over here, guys!) Tobias called to the others.

(We already noticed,) Jake said coolly, leaping over the fence. The Animorphs lined up.

Hawk. Tiger. Andalite. Elephant. Wolf. Cheetah. Lioness. Rhino. Elephant. Chimp. Andalite.

And the elephant that was Rachel held, in her trunk, the legendary blue box.

The Escafil Device.

The elephant that was Stephanie held in her trunk a bobcat.

I could see where they were going.

"Toss it!" I called to Rachel, darting toward her.

The box flew... and landed about two feet from me. Next to John, who grabbed it and ran towards me.

The Hork-Bajir yelled something, which roughly translated "Get the box! The human is lower priority!"

That got me riled. I placed my hand on the box...

"Whoa!" Not that I hadn't been expecting it, but it shocked me.

Rachel, who had tromped over, used me as a battering ram to beat away the Hork-Bajir. I acquired one as I hit it. Thankfully, I didn't hit any blades.

Next, I was lifted by Rachel to grab onto the bobcat. I morphed.

The bobcat's instincts were pretty basic.

I dropped. And attacked...

**Shelly**

April was out-of-control. The instincts had her.

(April! Hello? It's me, Shelly. You're not a bobcat!!! Hello?)

She leaped at the Hork-Bajir, claws extended. She was flung away.

(OW! THAT was a **MAJOR **owchy!) She screamed in my head. She turned toward us. (WHAT in the name of ALL bobcats is that BIRD doing here? This is MY territory.) She leapt toward Tobias.

Rachel grabbed April in her trunk. (Settle. Down. Now. April.)

(Oh. You can drop me now.)

The bobcat dropped. (Block me,) she said. (I'm going Hork-Bajir.)

(Better idea.) Rachel grabbed April again.

The Hork-Bajir chose then to attack rather than be attacked. (Jake, John, everyone else, hold them off!)

As April made the transition to half Hork-Bajir, her blades started to erupt, and I had to set her down.

(Time to kick some butt! Let's—) April began before me and Rachel butted in.

(Let's do it!)


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Rachel

Chapter 13: escape

Rachel

(Oh no, not AGAIN!) Marco said.

(That phrase brings nothing but trouble...) Jeff commented.

(Any time, boys...)

The Hork-Bajir weren't holding back, but they were drawing back. We were moving the battle 'behind the fence' so as to not reveal our secrets.

The only way we could tell April from the other Hork-Bajir was a shred of her over shirt stuck on her blades. She, apparently, constantly wore a leotard underneath her clothes. Don't know where that came from.

FWAAP! Andalite tails whipped through the air.

April rammed her elbow blade into a Hork-Bajir, who had just drawn out a Dracon beam. The Hork-Bajir dropped the Dracon.

Actually, he dropped his whole hand.

April picked up the Dracon and threw it towards Ax. Ax grabbed it, quickly turned it from 'stun' to 'kill,' and fired.

TSEWWWW!! A Hork-Bajir fell. Another.

Jake and Shelly had basically taken care of the rest.

(Let's go. Transport morphs,) John ordered.

(Same,) Jake agreed. (April, acquire Tobias.)

She demorphed, set her hand on Tobias's head, and morphed.

(Watch out for the instincts,) Tobias warned.

April gained quick control of the morph as with the Hork-Bajir morph, and took off. We all landed separately, about two-three minutes apart. But we didn't demorph.

John bird-walked toward a small hill on top of the hill that was Camp Streefland.

(There's a password,) he explained. Speaking to nowhere, he said, (Freedom now, freedom forever.)

A hole in the cave opened.

(Well, hop in.)

We fell, blind for a moment, then hit a pillow/mattress. I couldn't really tell. Then, as we demorphed, a light came on. And what was there... was amazing.

"You live here?" Marco asked. What he should have asked was "How do you fit all this under here?" or, "How did you build this?"

A central area served purpose as an entryway. Different tunnels led to separate rooms, all rather large. Quite a few were bedrooms, furnished rather well. There were two bathrooms, and a small armory. A small stairway was carved into the ground, leading to a living room of sorts. An upward staircase led outward. A kitchen was in a room out of the living room as a kitchen.

He decided to ask my questions.

"How did you build this?" Marco asked, moments before I started to ask the same thing.

"Stolen Dracon beams on low power carved out the main areas, Andalite tail did some of the finer work; the stairs and tunnel entrance. Al worked out the password entry. Mostly looting furnished the place, but some of it was taken from home," John explained.

All I could say was, "Whoa."

"So, what kind of morphs are you guys packing?" I asked.

"All of us have an Andalite morph, we each have three separate battle morphs, several flight morphs, walleye or northern pike morph, fly, mosquito, ant, termite," Shelly was ticking off the bug morphs, a shiver running down her back, "cockroach, there's actually an interesting story behind that, endurance morphs (elephant, rhino,) wolf..." She turned toward John. "That's about it, isn't it?"

"Basically. How about you guys?"

"Polar bear, dolphin, hammerhead shark, rhino or elephant, trout, wolf, horse, anteater, fly, mosquito, cockroach, ant, termite, we all have our battle morphs, cheetah, seal, god, there's too many... um... Jake morphed a lizard once, lobster, Tobias morphed Ax, cows, dog, cat, seagull, assorted flying morphs, flea, snake, skunk, wolf spider, dragonfly, Hork-Bajir, cockatiels, rat... that's it," Marco said.

"Wait a moment. You morphed a lobster?" I said turning to him.

"Didn't we tell them that one?" Marco asked Jake. Jake shrugged.

"Later," Jake said.

(My question, Prince Jake, is how these Animorphs came to be, and how an Escafil device fell into their hands?) Ax informed us.

"Al, you might want to take this one..." Stephanie said.

(Moments before you arrived at my fighter, as it was falling toward Earth, a young _aristh_ morphed me. We saw you five, on our scanners, which started malfunctioning. I told him what to say to you, and he left as Tobias began to call out to us. I morphed a _Helteh_, a very small Andalite insect that is similar to a flea, and jumped onto him, before jumping off outside. I stole a bug fighter that had crashed and fixed it before flying it over here.)

**sniffle They like me... they really really like me... two chapters left! Okay, on to the responces.**

**Cassie101: 10/10? YAY!**

**Volleyballroxf14: Hi, shell. Glad you like this version better!**

**Aldrea: Double chappies, okay? Does that work?**


	14. Chapter Fourteen: John

Chapter 14: The beginning of the end

John

"Glad that's cleared up, because we need to tell you the best news of all. We know where their Yeerk pool is. In the shed at Streefland. We just didn't have the force to take it," I looked at the group, "Now, we do. Let's see what firepower we have. Battle morphs, ladies and gentlemen," I told my group.

"You too," Jake said.

Cassie's form melted away, leaving a wolf behind. _An estreen..._ Jake was a tiger, Ax stayed Ax, Al stayed Al, Rachel morphed a grizzly, Tobias morphed into an Andalite, Marco morphed a Gorilla, Shelly morphed into her leopard morph, I morphed cobra, April morphed the bobcat, Jeff morphed a skunk, and Stephanie morphed Hork-Bajir.

(When did you get that?) Jeff asked.

(During one of our battles, I had to demorph, and there happened to be a KO-ed Hork-Bajir nearby, and I figured that it would come in handy.)

(Works for me, okay then...)

"WHAT THE CRAP AM I DOING IN A FRICKING UNDERGROUND CAVE?!?!?!?!?!?"

(Uh-oh, it's Nikkei!)

(DEMORPH! NOW!) Jake and I said. (AX, AL, TOBIAS, MORPH HUMAN!)

(Demorphing.)

"I'll try and slow her down," Al said, fully morphed to human. He left.

A moment later... "WHADD'JA THINK I'M SCREAMING ABOUT?!?"

A minute later, Nikkei came running in, with only Jake left demorphing. We quickly covered him.

(We're going to have to tell her sooner or later,) Jake said, finishing up.

"What are you covering up?" Nikkei asked forcefully.

(Should we tell her?) Tobias asked.

Jake, fully demorphed, nodded slightly.

"Well, Nikkei... you know the Animorphs books?" April asked.

"How could I not?" She said with the kindness of a bull facing the color red.

"What if I were to tell you they were real?"

"I'd think you were a psycho."

"Ax, Al?"

They began to demorph.

"Holy crap!" Nikkei was freaked out. I mean, two Andalites, that's kinda a shock.

"Tobias?" Jake asked.

He demorphed, too.

"Rachel?" Nikkei asked, pointing to Shelly.

"No, actually, I'm Shelly, this is Rachel."

"Hi. I got to go get Allison." Nikkei scuttled off.

"Quick question," April asked while Nikkei left. "What about Sarah? Could we bring her to safety?"


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Ax

Chapter 15- Controllers and battles.

Ax

I was also wondering what would become of Sarah. She had appeared to be similar to Prince Jake and myself. She could most likely handle the responsibility of being an Animorph.

But Shelly turned away.

Usually this means hate, pain, or regret. I was thinking pain.

"Sarah... is a controller. Sub-Visser 15. We have been watching her," Jeff said, obviously only because Shelly wouldn't.

April collapsed onto the couch.

"My god..."

"You couldn't have stopped it," John said, sitting next to her. "There's nothing we could have done either. Even Shelly... Sarah was one of the people who helped the Yeerks take Camp Streefland."

April was now crying, a human sign of sadness. "You could have done something. Held her for three days."

"Yes, you're right." John closed his eyes. "But they won't let us anywhere near her. Hork-Bajir guard her house."

April paused a moment, regained her composure, and stood. "Let's kick some Yeerk butt."

"Hey, that's my line!" Rachel told April.

"Let it go, Rachel. She's been thrown into this real fast," Prince Jake ordered.

"You said you know where the pool is. We need to fix this, fast," Rachel said.

"Easy. It's in the barn. Start a fire, burn some Yeerks, don't even need to go through the bio-filter that's probably there," April suggested.

"Works for me. Tomorrow," Prince Jake said.

"April, you stay here. Guys, lets get back before anyone knows we're gone," Cassie suggested.

"It's not even time to go back to the hotel yet, so we should be fine, but Cassie, Ax, and Tobias, you stay here, too," Prince Jake said simply.

"Right."

"Let's go."

--------------hi---------------

(Elfangor?) I asked, once everyone else was asleep.

(What, Aximili?) He answered. I could tell he was annoyed. Probably tired.

(How'd you get here? I mean, I know how you're alive and all... but why Minnesota?)

(I knew that the others were there, in California. I also knew there was also a pool here. So I came here.)

(Ah.)

(Go to sleep, Aximili.)

(I can't. It's a bit hard to do, considering the events of today.)

(How do you think our parents took my "death?" I'm sure they had problems about that. That was years ago. But they dealt. You need to, too.)

(But this is the opposite. Finding you're alive? That you have an Escafil device? That you have broken Seerow's Kindness...)

(Just go to sleep.)

(Goodnight, Elfangor.)

(Goodnight.)

---------------hi--------------

The next morning, we converged by the goat pen, at about 7:00 human time. We had brought a large piece of flint stone, cut in half by Elfangor. Our Andalite tails could serve as "starters" for the fire. But there were humans nearby. So my brother and I had to create a difficult maneuver. We had to morph all but our tails to human.

Cassie could have done it, as could have John. But it was nearly impossible. It took me about four tries to do it. Elfangor morphed only twice.

We took positions around the barn. Matches and flint stone were in place.

"Now," Prince Jake said.

Matches were lit and dropped, Andalite tail flew across stone to start the flint sparking. But the barn burned. Tobias took sticks in his talons, lit them, and dropped them on the roof. Soon, we heard Hork-Bajir screaming, Taxxons squishing, and humans running. Thankfully, all of the humans were out before the building began to collapse. We were already morphed to flies.

(Guess this will cut your trip short?) April asked.

(Yeah.)

(Wish you could stay. I have lots to talk about,) April said. (I mean, I honestly thought that the oatmeal wasn't real. I'll have to live in hiding until the Yeerks are stopped, though.)

(They will be,) I said coldly. (I'm not going to stop fighting until every Yeerk on this planet has left or died.)

(Trudat.)

(Well, goodbye, all of you. Maybe we'll meet again.)

(Maybe.)

(Yeah.)

**A/N: The end chapter here was inspired by true events. Camp Streefland's barn and another building was burned down by a group of kids around thanksgiving 2003. So, this is an Animorph fanatic's answer to 'who did it?'**

**Aldrea: Yay. I'm glad I've made someone's day.**

****

_Sequel Sneak Peek!_

Allison had given up and was about to flop on the couch when…

She froze, inches from the seat.

"Crap, not this. Not now…" April muttered. "Dumb Ellimist…"

And she was right. Seconds later, the Ellimist burst out of that air-made-solid opening.

"What do you want now?" Jeff asked, appearing next to us with Al and Stephanie.

"I want to talk," He said. He had appeared in the form of what looked like April's dad, because April looked hurt.

"Oh, right. 'I want to talk.' If you want to talk, call us on the phone, would'ja?" Shelly said, already morphing eagle.


End file.
